Catymology

My birthday's coming up on Sunday, March 9! I'll be officially 10 years old. But, you're only as old as you feel, and today I feel like it's Spring, and I'm a kitten with my new toy. Yes, it's just a simple rubber ball--a racquetball, to be precise--but I love to bat it around the floor. I also love it when I hit it under the couch and my humans have to get down on the floor and find it for me. My ball is nothing but fun for the entire family!

Labels: birthday, fun and games

My recent activities have revolved around napping. Meanwhile, the humans seem to have spent time several days a week at "the Y." Since they are always hungry and thirsty when they return from "the Y," I guess they are doing a lot of hunting. (That is what I wish I were doing right now!) But, you know, the fact that they return hungry and thirsty means that they are not very good hunters.

It's a good thing that they have those plastic card things that let them buy food for me and them, 'cause they're obviously bad hunters!

The Friday Ark is up at Modulator. Sunday's Carnival of the Cats is hosted by none other than Laurence Simon.

Labels: fun and games

My Ohio friend, Goldy, seems to be having all the fun today! Oh, for a fine, fat pheasant of my own!

We'll be boarding the Friday Ark. Carnival of the Cats on Sunday at: Catsynth, one of the coolest cat + music blogs around.

Labels: fun and games, guest cats

I got a package in the mail. It's a dreamcatcher! The good folks at a local American Indian charity send them out once a year with their request for donation. The last one I received didn't last more than a few minutes. Those feathers were really tasty. I wonder how long this one will survive?

Check out the Modulator's Friday Ark. On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats will be at Grace and Kittens.

Labels: fun and games

Yo, cats and catted ones! Darcy here.

A commenter on Aloysius' recent post about tail trash wrote:

But do you get tail trash in a trailer? And
would it be trailer tail trash? And could you
say it five times fast?

Now, being a kind of virtual cat, I don't officially have a tail. But I do have a mind. Offered here, without comment: headlines from the Tail Trashcan:

Trailer tail trash tales

Tales of trailer trash tails

Trailer trash tailor tails


Tailcoat tellurian tells all

Trailer trash teller in a tailored tailcoat

Tailgating trash tailor tells all

Telltale tail end trails tailor

Trailer trash tell-all tails off

Trailer tailspin trashes tale-teller

Trashing tattletale trashes

Trash-talking tailor thrashes tailgaters

Thrashing tattlers trail tellurions

Tailtrash detailing: 50 percent off!

I'm outta here!

Darcy X

P.S. The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be at This, That & The Other Thing this weekend. And the unofficial theme is: tails and toes!

Labels: fun and games

Amanuensis' sister gave me this toy when she visited in July. I pretended not to like it then, but guess what? I decided to give it a try. Of course, I had to inhale a little of the nip beforehand.

More fun and games at the Friday Ark. And on Sunday, catch the Carnival of the Cats at This, That, and the Other Thing.

Labels: fun and games

Like many felines, I love to play with feathers. They're better if still attached to the bird, but a feather toy will do.

I also have "ear feathers," those tufts of fur that grow inside my ears.


Friday Ark is at Modulator. This weekend's Bad Kitty Chaos Festival is at Disturbed Reality and the theme is--feathers! And if that's not enough, the Carnival of the Cats is at Grace and Kittens.

Labels: fun and games

Dear Dragonheart,

Your birthday scavenger hunt has been a lot of fun. I've had my human, amanuensis, running all over the internet to hunt down the answers. Here's what we've come up with. (But first, here are the official contest rules!)

The first task you set was to create an item that conveys what the word "sphynx" means to me. You said this would be the hardest task, and I did have to think about it quite a bit. Since I am a poet, I dedicate this poem to you, the first Sphynx cat I've ever known.

Dragonheart claims his humans


I remember when I claimed my humans
My frootbat ears and Yoda eyes
Took in every word and action.
My curious tongue tasted them.
I drank their scent and found it good.

Then I wrinkled up my forehead,
And sent this message in my purrs:
“Forget the love of fur, that human foible.
Forget the life you knew before I owned you.
Worship me in my warm suede skin.”

The next task you set ( Scavenger Hunt Item #2), was to find the full (registered) name, as well as the more commonly used daily name of the following:

• Me - HairNSkin - Dragonheart Dragonheart, Drago, Drake, Dragoncat
  
• My sire - Champion HairNSkin Obi Wan Kenobi - Obi
  
• My dam (full {registered} name only) - New Taj Mahal Sherazade of HairNSkin
• My brother and littermate - HairN Skin Merlin - Merlin
  
• My older sister who will be having a litter that I will hopefully be getting a little brother or sister from - HairNSkin From Dusk Till Dawn - Dawn, Flappy
  

I love names, and the naming of cats is a particularly fascinating field of study! I wish I knew why you called your sister Flappy.

The third task, (Scavenger hunt item #3) was to answer three questi0ns about your blog.

• When did I first start blogging? Tuesday, November 28, 2006 was the day of the first post siged by Dragonheart. (This is tricky, because Caylynn posted to the Dragonheart's Domain blog on November 25.)
  
• What was my Gotcha Day? Saturday, November 25, 2006
• When did my human mom first post about me on her blog? Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The fourth task (Scavenger Hunt Item #4) was easy, but I learned some interesting trivia while looking up the answers!

What is another name for the Sphynx breed? Canadian hairless

What was the name of the Sphynx cat character in the Austin Powers movies, and what is the cat's real name? Mr. Bigglesworth was played by SGC Belfry Ted Nude-Gent. I do love that name: Ted Nude-Gent! Did you know he's even got his own web page and was named "Cat of the Year" by Cats Magazine in 1999?

Dragonheart, you asked another easy question in Scavenger Hunt Item #5: list the colors of the following cats:

• Me - black and white tuxedo
  
• My sire - brown classic tabby & white
  
• My dam - blue point
  

According to the CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) what breeds can be used as outcrosses when breeding Sphynx? Until when can these breeds be used? American Shorthair, Domestic Shorthair/ Domestic Sphynx Outcross. Sphynx born on or after December 31, 2010 may have only Sphynx parents.

In Europe, what breed has been used most often as an outcross? Devon Rex


For the six task (Scavenger hunt item #6) I had to name three themes that your breeder has used for her litters, and give the name of one cat from each of these themes. This was pretty easy. All the answers are on Drago's breeder's site:

Fairy Tales - Dragonheart
Action Movies - Mission Impossible
Star Wars Cats - Obi Wan Kenobi

Then you gave me a harder task: #7: Give the German word for the following (use the correct article and capitalization):
My human's German is pretty rusty, so I asked her to contact her friend Dennis, who taught at the University of Tubingen for a number of years. Here's what he told us:

* Cat - die Katze
* Kitten - das Kätzchen
* Cat Food - das Katzenfutter
* Cat Litter - die Katzenstreu
* Litterbox - das Katzenklo
* Scratching Post - der Reibebaum
* Catnip - die Katzenminze
* Cat Snacks - die Katzenhäppchen

Then came your Final Scavenger Hunt Item and it was almost as hard as the first one.


Provide a caption for the following photo:

Labels: fun and games

Tuesday is Aloysius' day to simply be a cat, so I'm filling in.

Right now, this is what Aloysius is looking for in the garden--a nice, fat little chipmunk. As you may recall, he once managed to snare one of the cute little rodents. I have been trying to translate Aloysius' thoughts about the chipmunk. I'm not sure whether he meant to eat it, or just to play with it. Probably both.

Labels: fun and games

Yo, cats and catted ones! Darcy here.

Anastasia at The Cat Realm challenged us to put on a --what?

Here's my impression of Katz as the pink-wigged one.

When are these cheapskate humans gonna spring for Photoshop?

I'm outta here!

Darcy X

Labels: darcy, fun and games

Labels: fun and games

My human tells me this is gross: leaving a baby mouse lying around with its head bitten off. She even refused to take a picture of my prey!

For a cat who had the claws removed from his front feet early in life--long before I came to live here--I am a pretty good hunter, don't you think?

Labels: fun and games

I think there's catnip in there!

There's more fun and games at Modulator's Friday Ark. On Sunday, watch out for the Carnival of the Cats. Hosts needed!

Labels: fun and games

I crept back behind the juniper bushes. I like to sit there, where I'm mostly hidden by the foliage, and wait for prey. Usually, nothing comes by. But today was different: a fat little chipmunk ran right up to my mouth. I opened my jaws and caught it behind the neck! Seconds later, I was at the sliding door, asking to come in, with a joyous "Meow!"

Look what I brought you, you lazy humans!

Amanuensis yelled, "Oh, God, he's got a bird!" But by this time I was already in the house, dangling my prize like a mother cat carrying her newborn kitten.

"No, it's a chipmunk," she yelled. "Drop that this minute. Aloysius, drop it!"

I opened my mouth, and the chipmunk scurried away to hide among the potted plants. Next thing I knew, I was being picked up and locked in the kitchen. The indignity of it!

Note from amanuensis: we propped the side door open and, with a broom, shooed the chipmunk outside. No, we were not going to stop long enough to take its picture. The chipmunk looked pretty frisky. It ran out the door and disappeared into the bushes. Aloysius had probably not even broken the skin on the back of its neck. He just wanted us to share his toy!

Aloysius: I can has chipmunk! Weekend Cat Blogging is at CatSynth--a very interesting blog that is new to us!

Labels: fun and games

I just couldn't resist . . .

It's the lolcat meme! It's spreading like antz.

The Cat Blogosphere takes on this week's Carnival of the Cats, and there's Weekend Cat Blogging at PaulChen's Food Blog?!

Labels: fun and games, lolcats

Bonnie Underfoot and Victor Tabbycat tagged me for the 7 things meme. Here are the rules. Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Cats who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven cats to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and ask them to read your blog!

1. I came to live with my current humans when I was four years old. I’m planning to live here forever because there is a beautiful garden for me to prowl in.

2. I love to be brushed, so I know that the human I lived with before that must have taken care of me. Cats have to be brushed from the time they are kittens so they will grow up liking it. Brushing feels like having my mother lick me with her raspy tongue.

3. I’m not a lap cat. I prefer to sit beside my humans on the couch and to sleep between them in bed.

4. My favorite toy is a feathered cat teaser.

5. I would eat rubber bands if I could get at them.

6. If I disappear, it’s likely that I’m sleeping under the end of the comforter at the bottom of the bed.

7. When my humans are pleased with me, they call me Sweetie or Sweetie Pot. When I misbehave, they call me by my full name, Aloysius Pangur Ban. (Aloysius is pronounced Al-oh-wish-us, by the way. A lot of humans have trouble with that; they look up the pronunciation on the internet, and then they find Catymology!)

I tag the following cats:

AnnaZu at Bastante Already
K T Cat at The Scratching Post
Cato at Creatures of the Earth
Rocky at Artsy Catsy
Zeus at The Zeus Excuse
BJ, KC, Max, Sasha, Sebastian, & Stripe at Chat Katze
Gattina’s Cats

Labels: fun and games

I like to relax on my wicker stool and let my fluffy tail trail down. It was thoughtful of my humans to cover the seat with carpet that perfectly matches my fur. Of course, the carpet itself has become rather furry.

From this seat I can look out and see humans, their dogs, squirrels, and the occasional raccoon. I call it my throne with a view.

Speaking of views, check out the Friday Ark tomorrow, and Sunday's Carnival of the Cats. Oh, and in case you're into *not* catblogging, Random Yak has the goodies. But there's still some tasty catblogging going on over at What Did You Eat.

Labels: fun and games

Next Sunday, April 29, we'll be hosting the Carnival of the Cats here at Catymology. Get your entries ready. We're looking for stories, pictures, poems, or what have you about cats and their catted ones. To enter, use the form at the Blog Carnival Index. The deadline is 6 p.m. Central Time. Rumor has it that Darcy Xenophon will be returning from his extended stay at the "feline spa" in order to help with the curatorial duties.

Meanwhile, roll over and enjoy the 161st edition of the Carnival, hosted by our friend K T Cat, the Maximum Leader of the Feline Theocracy. I especially liked her invocation:

Oh Lord, we beseech thee, bring all of these kitties tuna in their bowls, sunbeams on their sofas and fresh catnip rubbed on their toys. Amen.

Amen!

Labels: Carnival of the Cats, fun and games

When humans get to the point in an argument where they just can't agree, the wise leader may step in and decide to tell them: "That's off the table!" For example, last year, then Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) told her caucus members during their weekly closed meeting "that impeachment [of President Bush] is off the table; she is not interested in pursuing it." Meanwhile, though, apparently other things are still on the table, including humans invading other humans' countries. It's not clear to me how things get on or off the table, but it generally involves a lot of screaming and shouting--which reminds me of my house, when this happens:


Later today: the Carnival of the Cats at Bad Kitty Cats. Their humans say the computer is back online, so the Carnival is definitely on the table.

Labels: fun and games

I was not named Aloysius Pangur Ban for nothing. Pangur Ban, the famous poem about a scholar and his cat, describes me to a T. At least one day a year, I celebrate my Irish heritage. This Saint Patrick's Day, I'm going to lay around all day, exposing my furry tummy, while listening to some good old-time Irish music.



Here's one tune I recently discovered: Lord of the Pounce, a variation on the Lord of the Dance. A bard named Marc Gunn wrote the lyrics:

I pounced in the morning when the world was begun.
I pounced on the moon and the stars all for fun.
I leaped down from heaven, and I pounced on the earth.
When I pounced my first mouse, I had my birth.

Pounce, pounce, wherever you may be
I am lord of the pounce, said he.
I'll run under feet, wherever you may be.
And I'll leap on you in the pounce, said he.

And then he recorded them along with several other Irish cat songs; now you can buy the CD or download the song for free.

From Marc's blog:

Marc Gunn is an Irish and Scottish folk singer with a strange affinity for Celtic ballads, drinking songs and cats. He is the lead singer for the Brobdingnagian Bards, an internet music promoter, podcaster, poet, photographer and publisher of many, many things on and offline.

And just this week, Marc's band, the Brobdingnagian Bards, won an award:

AUSTIN, TX (March 15, 2007) - Indie Celtic music favorites the Brobdingnagian Bards were named Best "None of the Above" Band of 2006-07 at the prestigious Austin Music Awards held last night at the Austin Convention Center, kicking off the music portion of the international South By Southwest music conference.

Congratulations, Marc!

P.S. Check out Modulator's Friday Ark for more furry goodness. On Sunday, the Carnival of the Cats celebrates three years of kitty madness at Pet's Garden Blog.

Labels: fun and games, music, St. Patrick's Day